Royal Air Force Museum

Situated on the historic site of Hendon's London Aerodrome in Colindale, our North London Museum, is one of two sites belonging to the U.K's only national museum that tells the story of the Royal Air Force through its people and collections.

It's Britain's only national museum devoted wholly to aviation (it's split between this site and RAF Cosford in the Midlands), with over 100 aircraft from around the world, from very early designs to current jets and military aircraft.

The museum displays a number of permanent exhibitions, including one entitled Our Finest Hour, which uses film, audio and special lighting to recreate the atmosphere of the Battle of Britain. The Aeronauts Interactive Centre has over 40 'hands on' experiments to help visitors to understand how an aircraft flies.

Housed in five huge buildings and covers aviation history from early balloon flights to the latest jet fighters. An upper floor allows visitors to overlook the hangars, while platforms allow you to get close to the aircraft.

The museum also has a huge collection of photographs, mostly black and white, while the library has tens of thousands of printed works from the 18th century to the present time. A film and sound collection boasts some 7m feet of film, dating from the pioneering days of flight (the earliest reel is from 1910) to the present day see The Royal Airforce Museum website for an extensive archive of exhibitions.